Europe’s top court upheld a ruling ordering Apple to repay €13 billion ($14.3 billion) in taxes to the Republic of Ireland and threw out a Google appeal of a €2.4 billion fine, marking major wins for the European Union (EU) in an escalating battle with big technology companies.

In a filing, the EU’s Court of Justice backed a European Commission decision from 2016 ordering Apple to pay the sum in back taxes, stating the iPhone maker benefited from two separate rulings which broke state-aid laws and favoured two of its subsidiaries.

This “selective advantage” allowed Apple to cut its tax burdens to as low as 0.005 per cent in 2014, the Court of Justice and the European Commission (EC) found.

The long-running case was turned over to Europe’s Court of Justice in 2020, after Apple won an appeal to overturn the original decision.

Today (10 September), the court stated: “The Court of Justice gives final judgment in the matter and confirms the EC’s 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover.”

An Apple representative told BBC News: “This case has never been about how much tax we pay, but which government we are required to pay it to. We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal.”

Google
Separately, Google lost an appeal against a ruling from 2017 when the EC fined it €2.4 billion for allegedly abusing the market dominance of its price comparison shopping service.

A Google spokesperson stated the company is disappointed with the judgement. It is one of three hefty fines levied at the company in the bloc for anti-competitive practices, putting it on the hook for an €8 billion fine in total.

Today’s rulings against Apple and Google are final and cannot be appealed.

Margrethe Vestager, EU’s antitrust chief who will leave the role in November, took to X to cheer the two rulings, stating: “Today is a huge win for European citizens and tax justice.”